Guns and Grey Morality
by Tenkan Star
Summary: In a fictional 1925, police recruit Rei Ryugazaki's life is turned around when he's ordered to go undercover and join the Iwatobi group, a gang of notorious criminals. However, when he learns more about the members and their motives, his own perspective changes and he begins to wonder if these 'criminals' are really the bad guys after all. SeiGou, Reigisa, MakoHaru, past RinHaru.


**Co-written with Kokonut.**

* * *

Rei Ryugazaki was in on his fourth day of work at the police headquarters. It was a testing week for the young policeman to see if he was qualified for this line of duty. So far, to Rei's dismay, all he had received was files filling him in on the criminals all throughout Japan. No real policework just yet. Not even the traditional uniform either. However, his boss had asked him yesterday to meet up with him during his evening shift in his office. Hoping that this was his opportunity, Rei had appeared earlier than usual, remaining in a chair propped up outside the office for nearly an hour before his boss showed up.

"Rei Ryugazaki. Step into my office."

Rei jumped up from his seat, obliging to the orders. He hurried into his boss' office, trying to not to look too nervous. His boss was honestly rather terrifying, especially to people new on the job like him who hadn't worked with him long enough, but Rei had enough experience with the man to feel more than a little intimidated.

His boss' office was simple, styled in a western fashion with a fancy-looking rotary telephone on his desk. Not many places had phones, and for some reason it made Rei feel worse.

The older man only spared him a passing glance when he came in before turning his attention back to some papers he was reading.

"Have a seat."

"Y-Yes sir."

Unsure of where to look, Rei focused his gaze on the nameplate on the desk. "Byakuya Aizawa." The name struck fear into even the most hardened of criminals, or so the veterans of the police force rumored.

"You're here for your evaluation, then?" Aizawa said finally, pushing his papers to the side and folding his hands in front of him. Rei nodded wordlessly. "No need to be so nervous, Ryugazaki; from what I've heard you've been doing good work so far, and you're only just out of training. All we need to do is discuss whether you're ready to go out into the field based on what you've been up to so far."

The moment he had been waiting for! Rei knew he couldn't mess this one up. He lifted his eyes to meet with Aizawa's grey ones, and at once he felt a shiver run up his spine. The shade of grey reminded him of storm clouds, the exact kind one would expect thunder, and an eruption was just what he was expecting from his boss. He'd heard that the man possessed a short temper, meaning he had to choose his words carefully.

Swallowing, Rei replied evenly, "Thank you, sir. I am trying my best." He pushed his black frames upwards on his nose. "I've studied each and every one of the files you handed off to me. I believe that I have an understanding of the a criminal's motives."

Aizawa, needless to say, was impressed with the young man's determination. "Including the gangs in the area?"

"Yes sir, I'm aware there are several. The largest around is the Samezuka group, known for its alcohol bootlegging to the western continent and opium trades with China and distribution to local areas here in Japan. They're over a hundred people strong, possibly more, and their leader is called Seijuuro Mikoshiba, though nobody has seen his face."

His employer leaned back in his chair. "Mikoshiba does well in his efforts to stay in the shadows, that is true. You've really been paying attention. Anything else?"

Rei took a deep breath to continue. "Other groups around are the Sonozaki and Mizuhara, but Samezuka's main rival is Iwatobi. The size of Iwatobi is unknown, and it's unclear who leads them as all who have been arrested and questioned have either not known who they're working under or refused to say. They deal in the same sort of trade as Samezuka, sans the opium, and hence why they're rivals."

"I have to say, Ryugazaki, you did your research." Aizawa's tugged upwards into a half-smile. "I think you just might be ready to deal with crime."

Rei's heart skipped a beat at the last part. Finally! No more boring days researching! He'd been studying every technique in the job, and now he'll finally get to test these out! He let out a shaky sigh of relief that he realized he'd been holding. "I won't let you down."

"I know you won't." was the man's response. He paused. "I think-" he was cut off by the abrupt ringing of the phone.

Aizawa rolled his eyes irritably. "Do you mind if I get that? We've had a watch on a particular area recently...we can talk about your weaknesses when I get done."

"Of course sir!" Rei agreed easily, the word 'weaknesses' failing to quell his excitement. He knew he had weaknesses, everyone did and it was impossible to avoid it, but how bad could his be if his boss already thought he was ready to officially join the officers? He anxiously watched the elder speak into the phone. What he could pick up was that there was another gang fight of some sort. The phone call lasted a total of a minute or so before he hung up.

Aizawa glanced over at the rookie as he stood up. "Looks like you're up. We're heading over to a few blocks down."

Yet again the familiar feeling of relief crossed crossed Rei's features_. Looks like weaknesses will have to wait._

"Wait...I'm _up_?!"

The relief vanished.

Aizawa ticked off his fingers, "To summarize, you over-analyze, think too much about the technical sides of things, and you try to cover up not knowing something by pretending you know things. At yet sometimes, you still rush into things without thinking. All weaknesses that can be taken care of when you go out and get work experience. So get up, we're going to go get work experience. There's a gang rendezvous down by the harbor that's getting a little messy, and we've been called in to break it up."

"But-" Rei spluttered, "This is a bit sudden...!"

"If it bothers you, just sit on the sidelines and observe. You're not in uniform yet, nobody will know you're an officer. Are you up for it?"

After a few moments of staring with his mouth agape, he shut his mouth, and straightened himself. "Y-yes, sir!"

"Don't forget your weapon of defense. These fights can get out of hand."

Rei didn't need to be told twice. He swiped a gun from storage on his way out to the car.

* * *

At the very fight site the police were currently on their way to raid, a pair of shadows stood hidden in an alleyway watching the carnage. If one bothered to pay attention they could easily make out vague individual features in each figure: the tall, broad-shouldered build of one with messy, light brown hair, and his smaller dark-haired compatriot who didn't particularly look like cared about what was going on.

"That was...almost too easy," the taller one said, his voice laced with worry. "Our people could get hurt if they're not careful."

"Of course it was easy," the other said in a flat, bored tone of voice. "Sonozaki and Samezuka have had friction between them for ages. Stirring up a fight in a middle of already tense negotiations wasn't exactly going to be difficult, Makoto."

"You're right," Makoto sighed. "The hard part will be making sure neither side discovers we were involved. Both of them will come after Iwatobi if they found out."

"I wouldn't worry about it," the dark-haired one replied. "Nagisa's in there. He and our other people should be able to get the cargo we want while Sonozaki and Samezuka are distracted without too much trouble."

The two turned back to the fight, paying close attention to a small, light-haired figure darting in between the fighting parties to the edge of the area, grabbing as small a box as he could and dashing off with them. A few others, less noticeable, did the same. The cargo was disappearing without either side noticing.

"It looks like he's handling it well." Makoto noted aloud. Of course, this wasn't enough to subdue the worry, but it was something. He glanced over at his friend, then with a nod. "What do you think, Haru?"

Haru shrugged. "I don't see a problem."

"Alright..."

There was a beat of silence of the two watching their lackeys steal the cargo. The packages contained weapons of all shapes and sizes- ones that Iwatobi would need for later fights. Haru spoke up. "Do you want to go get some dinner?"

"Right now? In the middle of all this?"

"Nagisa can handle it."

"...Okay, if you say so...what do you want to eat?"

"Mackerel," was the immediate answer. Makoto sighed.

"Again? Oh, alright, I think I have enough money..."

With that, the two turned and disappeared into the dark alleyway, more-or-less ditching the bloody fight scene behind them.

* * *

When the vehicle pulled up onto the crime scene, Rei's jaw dropped. He had never personally been caught up in these fights nor witnessed one so this was all new to him. He preferred to surround himself with different people than the gangsters.

"Ryugazaki? You alright there?" Aizawa interrupted his thoughts. He hadn't realized he'd been trembling at the sight of a teen who looked merely 14 getting knifed in the gut. Before Rei could give a coherent response, Aizawa was already out of the car, yelling for Rei to stay off to the side. Rei happily obliged, scuttling into a dark corner and remembering what his training had told him about appearing inconspicuous. He wasn't in uniform, though now he wasn't sure if that was an advantage or not; he'd heard stories about gang members taking civilians hostage to gain an easy escape from the police.

As soon as Aizawa got involved, the groups scattered, leaving the brutally injured stuck lying on the ground. Rei winced, unsure how gangs could continue going on with these battles. As the groups scattered, many of the policemen would easily catch them by the wrist, but majority got away. One, however, a short blond whose appearance looked more like a child, was racing towards Rei, accidentally bumping into him on his way down the ally.

"Whoops, sorry!" the blond called over to him as he continued on his way, the large box blatant to Rei's eyes.

"H-Hey, are you...!" Rei gasped, but the blond was already almost out of sight. He glanced back at where the coveted cargo was being held, and that left no doubt in his mind. The kid was stealing illegal substances! Rei honestly had no idea what the boxes held, but he knew it likely wasn't anything good, and who did know what that blond intended on doing with them?!

And so Rei did what he thought was best. He chased after the culprit.

Co-written with Kokonut.


End file.
